Random Thoughts on Taxation

Random Thoughts on Taxation
Personal Archives | April 14, 2002 | PsyOp

Posted on 04/14/2002 2:17:00 PM PDT by PsyOp

A few things to think about on tax day.

We have always understood it to be a grand and fundamental principle of the constitution that no freeman should be subject to any tax to which he has not given his own consent, in person or by proxy. - John Adams, opposition to the Stamp Act. 1765.

It is also in the interest of a tyrant to keep his subjects poor, so that they may not be able to afford the cost of protecting themselves by arms and be so occupied with their daily tasks that they have no time for rebellion.... Subjects are also kept poor by payment of taxes. - Aristotle, Politics, Bk.V, c.334-23 BC.

Every effort therefore must be made to perpetuate prosperity. And since this is to the advantage of the rich as well as the poor, all that accrues from the revenues should be collected into a single fund and distributed in block grants to those in need, if possible in lump sums large enough for the acquisition of a small piece of land, but if not, enough to start a business, or work in agriculture. - Aristotle, Politics, Bk.VI, c.334-23 B.C.

There went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. - The Bible, New Testament, Luke, 2:1.

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyr_nius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one in his own city. - The Bible, New Testament, Luke 2:1-3.

And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt unto this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth part; except the land of the priests only, which became not Pharaoh's. - The Bible, Old Testament, Genesis 47:26.

Harbor, n. A place where ships taking shelter from storms are exposed to the fury of the customs. - Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary. 1911.

The state has learned from the merchants and industrialists how to exploit credit; it defies the nation ever to let it go into bankruptcy. Alongside all swindlers the state now stands there as swindler-in-chief. - Jakob Burckhardt.

To tax and to please, no more than to love and be wise, is not given to men. - Edmund Burke, speech on American taxation, April 9, 1774.

You could only end just where you begun; that is, to tax where no revenue is to be found, to — my voice fails me; my inclination indeed carries me not farther — all is confusion beyond it. - Edmund Burke.

Read my lips — No More New Taxes! - George Bush.

I’m the one who will not raise taxes.... And my opponent won’t rule out raising taxes. But I will not rule out raising taxes. But I will and the Congress will push me to raise taxes, and I’ll say no, and they’ll push, and I’ll say no, and they’ll push again and I’ll say to them, read my lips, no new taxes. - George Bush, Acceptance speech, Republican Convention. August 18, 1988.

The number of votes available to the sponsors of a tax bill [are] almost exactly proportional to the number of loopholes added to the legislation. - Jimmy Carter, Keeping Faith, 1982.

More will be paid? To be sure. But by whom? Only those who have not paid enough. The privileged will be sacrificed, yes - when justice requires it and need demands it. Would it be better to tax yet again the unprivileged, the people? - Charles Alexander de Calonne.

There is one difference between a tax collector and a taxidermist — the taxidermist leaves the hide. - Mortimer Caplan, Director of the IRS, Time, February 1, 1963.

No statesman e'er will find it worth his pains

To tax our labours and excise our brains. - Charles Churchill, Night. Line 271, 1761.

Control over taxation and revenues of the state has always been the foundation on which Parliamentary Government has rested, and indeed there is no other foundation upon which it can rest. Once the state acquires sources of revenue independent of Parliament, then the power of Parliamnent to curb and check maladministration is seriously diminished. - Winston Churchill, Usher Hall, Edinburgh. May 18, 1950.

Our revolution was mainly directed against the mere theory of tyranny. We had suffered but comparatively little; we had, in some respects, been kindly treated; but our intrepid and intelligent fathers saw, in the usurpation of the power to levy an inconsiderable tax, the long train of oppressive acts that were to follow. They rose; they breasted the storm; they achieved our freedom. - Henry Clay, speech in the U.S. Senate. January 19, 1819.

We will lower the tax burden on middle-class Americans. Middle-class taxpayers will have a choice between a children's tax credit or a significant reduction in their income tax rate. - Bill Clinton, Putting People First, 1991.

I want to make it very clear that this middle-class tax cut, in my view, is central to any attempt were going to make to have a short-term economic strategy. - Bill Clinton. January 19, 1992.

From New Hampshire forward, for reasons that absolutely mystified me, the press thought the most important issue in the race was the middle-class tax cut. I never did meet any voter who thought that. - Bill Clinton, press conference. January 14, 1993.

I don’t intend to go into an argument to convince any man here that protection to all must be protection to none. If it takes from one man’s pocket and, and allows him to compensate himself by taking an equivalent from another man’s pocket, and if that goes on in a circle through the whole community, it is only a clumsy process of robbing all to enrich none, and simply has this effect, that it ties up the hands of industry in all directions. - Richard Cobden, speech in Manchester England. January 15, 1846.

The art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to obtain the largest amount of feathers with the least amount of hissing. - J. B. Colbert (1619-1683), Louis XIV’s Controller-General of Finance.

I have in mind that the taxpayers are the stockholders of the business corporation of the United States, and if this business is showing a surplus of receipts the taxpayer should share therein in some material way that will be of immediate benefit. - Calvin Coolidge. 1924

The power to tax is the power to destroy.... A government which lays taxes on the people not required by urgent public necessity and sound public policy is not a protector of liberty, but an instrument of tyranny. - Calvin Coolidge, speech in Washington D.C. June 30, 1924.

The wise and correct course to follow in taxation and all other economic legislation is not to destroy those who have already secured success but to create conditions under which everyone will have a better chance to be successful. - Calvin Coolidge, inaugural address, March 4, 1925.

It is well, sir, to have a flag to cover an appropriation; sometimes the flag without the appropriation may be better. - Samuel S. Cox, House of Representatives. November 10, 1877.

I am against the big tax spender and for the little taxpayer. - Gerald Ford, speech, Republican Convention. August 19, 1976.

Beware of little Expenses, a small leak will sink a great ship. - Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard’s Almanac. 1733-58.

If you know how to spend less than you get, you have the Philosophers-Stone. - Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard’s Almanac. 1733-58.

In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes. - Benjamin Franklin, letter to M. Leroy, 1789.

We need to promote economic growth by reducing regulation, taxation and frivolous lawsuits. Everywhere I, go Americans complain about an overly complicated tax code and an arrogant, unpredictable and unfair Internal Revenue Service. This summer we will begin hearings on bold, decisive reform of the income tax system. We're looking at a simplified flat tax and other ways to bring some sense to the disorder and inequity of our tax system. - House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Address to the Nation, April 7, 1995.

I'm proud of paying taxes. The only thing is — I could be just as proud for half the money. - Arthur Godfrey.

His [Burke's] imperial fancy has laid all Nature under tribute, and has collected riches from every scene of the creation and every walk of art. - Robert Hall, Apology for the Freedom of the Press, c.1800.

The ability of a country to pay taxes must always be proportioned, in a great degree, to the quantity of money in ciculation, and to the celerity with which it circulates. Commerce, contributing to both these objects, must of necessity render the payment of taxes easier, and facilitate the requisite supplies to the treasury. - Alexander Hamilton, “The Utility of the Union in Respect to Revenue.” c.1782.

A nation cannot long exist without revenue. Destitute of this essential support, it must resign it independence, and sink into degraded condition of a province. This is an extremity to which no government will, of choice, accede. Revenue, therefore, must be had in all events. In this country, if the principal part be not drawn from commerce, it must and will fall with oppressive weight upon land. - Alexander Hamilton, “The Utility of The Union in Respect to Revenue.” c. 1782.

It is evident from the state of the country, from the habits of the people, from the experience we have had on the point itself, that it is impracticable to raise any very considerable sums by direct taxation. Tax laws have in vain been multiplied; new methods to enforce the collection have in vain been tried; the public expectation has been uniformly disappointed, and the treasuries of the States have remained empty. - Alexander Hamilton, “The Utility of the Union in Respect to Revenue.” c.1782.

The genius of the people will ill brook the inquisitive and peremtory spirit of excise laws. The pockets of the farmers, on the other hand, will reluctantly yield but scanty supplies, in the unwelcome shape of impositions on their houses and lands; and personal property is too precarious and invisible a fund to be laid hold of in any other way than by imperceptible agency of taxes on consumption. - Alexander Hamilton, “The Utility of the Union in Respect to Revenue.” c.1782.

As connected with the subject of revenue, we may with propriety consider that of economy. The money saved from one object, may be usefully applied to another; and there will be so much the les to be drawn from the pockets of the people. - Alexander Hamilton, “Union With a View to Economy.” c. 1782.

A nation cannot long exist without revenue. Destitute of this essential support, it must resign it’s independence and sink into the degraded condition of a province. - Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist #12, November 27, 1787.

The ability of a country to pay taxes must always be proportioned, in a great degree, to the quality of money in circulation, and to the celerity with which it circulates. - Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist #12, November 27, 1787.

As connected with the subject of revenue, we may with propriety consider that of economy. The money saved from one object may be usefully applied to another; and there will be so much less to be drawn from the pockets of the people. - Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist #13, November 28, 1787.

[Taxes] prescribe their own limit; which cannot be exceeded without defeating the end proposed — that is an extension of the revenue. When applied to this object, the saying is as just as it is witty, that “in political arithmetic, two and two do not always make four.” If duties are too high they lessen the consumption — the collection is eluded; and the product to the treasury is not so great as when they are confined within proper and moderate bounds. - Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist #21, December 12, 1787.

Money is with propriety considered as the vital principal of the body politic; as that which sustains its life and motion, and enables it to perform its most essential functions. A complete power therefor to procure a regular and adequate supply of it, as far as the resources of the community will permit, may be regarded as an indispensable ingredient in every constitution. - Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist #30, December 28, 1787.

There is no part of the administration of government that requires extensive information and a thorough knowledge of the principles of political economy so much as the business of taxation. The man who understands those principles best will be least likely to resort to oppressive expedients, or to sacrifice any particular class of citizens to the procurement of revenue. - Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist #35, January 5, 1788.

Exorbitant duties on important articles would beget a general spirit of smuggling; which is always prejudicial to the fair trader, and eventually to the revenue itself. - Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist #35, January 5, 1788.

If someone were to ask today, “What is the matter with the United States?” I am sure we would hear some Democratic friend respond, “Its people are oppressed and impoverished by tariff taxation. - Benjamin Harrison, speech in Indiana. September 18, 1888.

What reason is there that he which laboreth much, and, sparing the fruits of his labor, consumeth little, should be more charged than he that, living idly, getteth little and spendeth all he gets, seeing the one hath no more protection from the commonwealth than the other? - Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan. 1651.

That the government takes up to 50 percent of the profits from professional earnings or business transactions, while the individual takes all the risks, is intensely discouraging to initiative. - Herbert Hoover, memo to President Harding. 1921.

The trick is to stop thinking it as `your' money. - IRS auditor.

To require the people to pay taxes to the government merely that they may be paid back again is sporting with the substantial interests of this country. - Andrew Jackson. December 1836.

There is but one safe rule, and that is, to confine the general government rigidly within the sphere of its appropriate duties. It has no power to raise a revenue, or impose taxes, except for the purposes enumerated in the Constitution; and, if its income is found to exceed these wants, it should be forthwith reduced, and the burdens of the people so far lightened. - Andrew Jackson, farewell address. 1840.

There is a constant effort to induce the general government to go beyond the limits of its taxing power, and to impose unecessary burdens upon the people.... And, in order to fasten upon the people this uunjust and unequal system of taxation, extravagant schemes of internal improvement were got up, in various quarters, to squander the money and purchase support. - Andrew Jackson, farewell address. 1840.

To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.... - Thomas Jefferson, Virginia Religious Freedom Bill. 1779.

Economy in the public expense, that labor may be lightly burdened. - Thomas Jefferson, 1st inaugural address. March 4, 1801.

It may be the pleasure and pride of an American to ask, what farmer, what mechanic, what laborer, ever sees a tax gatherer of the United States. - Thomas Jefferson, second inaugural address. March 4, 1805.

I think it is a great error to consider a heavy tax on wines, as a tax on luxery. On the contrary it is a tax on the health of our citizens. It is a legislative declaration that none but the richest of them shall be permitted to drink wine, and in effect a condemneation of all the middling and lower conditions of society to the poison of whiskey, which is destroying them wholesale. - Thomas Jefferson, to Crawford, 1818.

We now pride ourselves upon having given freedom to 4,000,000 of the colored race; it will then be our shame that 40,000,000 of people, by their own toleration of usurpation and prolificacy, have suffered themselves to become enslaved, and merely exchanged slave owners for new taskmasters in the shape of bondholders and tax gatherers. - Andrew Johnson, fourth annual message to Congress. December 9, 1868.

In 1790, the nation which had fought a revolution against taxation without representation discovered that some of its citizens weren’t much happier about taxation with representation. - Lyndon B. Johnson, speech. June 3, 1964.

When plunder bears the name of impost, fortitude is intimidated and wisdom confounded: resistance shrinks from an alliance with rebellion, and the villain remains secure in the robes of the magistrate. - Samuel Johnson, The Rambler #148, 1752.

Budget deficits are not caused by wild-eyed spenders, but by slow economic growth and periodic recession.... in short, it is a paradoxical truth that tax-rates are too high today and tax revenues are too low, and the soundest way to raise the revenues in the long run is to cut the rates. - John F. Kennedy, speech to the Economic Club of New York. December 14, 1962.

Our true choice is not between tax reduction on the one hand, and the avoidance of large federal deficits on the other. It is increasingly clear that no matter what party is in power, so long as our national security needs keep rising, an economy hampered by restrictive tax-rates will never produce enough revenues to balance our budget, just as it will never produce enough jobs or enough profits. - John F. Kennedy, speech to the Economic Club of New York. December 14, 1962.

This nation can afford to reduce taxes — we can afford a temporary deficit — but we cannot afford to do nothing. For on the strength of our free economy rests the hope of all free men. We shall not fail their faith — and, God willing, free men and free nations shall prosper and prevail. - John F. Kennedy, speech to the Economic Club of New York. December 14, 1962.

'Tis true, governments cannot be supported without great charge, and 'tis fit everyone who enjoys his share of the protection should pay out of his estate his proportion for the maintenance of it. But still it must be with his own consent, i.e. the consent of the majority, giving it either by themselves or their representatives chosen by them; for if anyone shall claim a power to lay and levy taxes on the people by his own authority, and without such consent of the people, he thereby invades the fundamental law of property, and subverts the end of government. For what property have I in that which another may by right take when he pleases himself. - John Locke, The True End of Civil Government. 1690.

Governments cannot be supported without great charge, and it is fit every one who enjoys his share of the protection should pay out his estate his proportion for the maintenance of it. But still it must be with his own consent. - John Locke. The True End of Civil Government. 1690.

It is of the greatest advantage in a republic to have laws that keep her citizens poor. - Niccoló Machiavelli, The Discourses. Bk III. 1517.

The apportionment of taxes on the various descriptions of property, is an act which seems to require the most exact impartiality; yet, there is perhaps no legislative act in which greater opportunity and temptation are given to a predominant party, to trample on the rules of justice. Every shilling with which they over-burden the inferior number, is a shilling saved to their own pockets. - James Madison, The Federalist #10, November 22, 1787.

A just security to property is not afforded by that government under which unequal taxes oppress one species of property and reward another species; where arbitrary taxes invade the domestic sanctuaries of the rich, and excessive taxes grind the faces of the poor. - James Madison, National Gazette. March 29, 1792.

That the power to tax involves the power to destroy; that the power to destroy may defeat and render useless the power to create; that there is a plain repugnance, in conferring on one government a power to control the constitutional measures of another, which other, with respect to those very measures is declared to be supreme over that which exerts the control, are propositions not to be denied. - Chief Justice John Marshall, McCulloch vs. Maryland, March 6, 1819.

Unquestionably, there is progress. The average American now pays out twice as much in taxes as he formerly got in wages. - H.L. Mencken.

When Democrats ask for more taxes, ask not for whom the tax rises, it rises for you. - Congressman Bob Michel.

A further question is, whether the State while it permits, should nevertheless indirectly discourage conduct which it deemd contrary to the best interests of the agent; whether, for example, it should take measures to render the means of drunkenness more costly.... To tax stimulants for the sole purpose of making them more difficult to be obtained, is a measur differing only in degree from their entire prohibition; and would be justifiable only if that were justifiable. Every increase of cost is a prohibition, to those whose means do not come up to the augmented price; and to those who do, it is a penalty laid on them for gratifying a particular taste. - John Stuart Mill, On Liberty. 1859.

To impose taxes when the public exigencies require them is an obligation of the most sacred character.... To dispense with taxes when it may be done with perfect safety is equally the duty of their representatives. - James Monroe, message to Congress. December 21, 1817.

My idea is that Congress have an unlimited power to raise money, and that in its appropriation they have a discretionary power, restricted only by the duty to appropriate to purposes of common defense and of general, not local, national, not State, benefit. - James Monroe, Veto of Cumberland Road Bill. 1822.

In constitutional states liberty is compensation for the heavy taxation; in despotic states the equivalent of liberty is light taxes. - Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws. 1748.

Taxation without representation is tyranny. - James Otis, Attributed. 1763.

Taxation... could never be worth the charge of obtaining it by arms. - Thomas Paine, The American Crisis #7. November 21, 1778.

Let expenses be ever so great, only let them be fair and necessary, and no citizen will grumble. - Thomas Paine, “To the Public on Mr. Deane’s Affairs,” Pennsylvania Packet. January 8, 1779.

The right of a parliament is only a right in trust, a right of delegation, and that but of a very small part of the nation; and one of its Houses has not even this. but the right of the nation is an original right, as universal as taxation. The nation is the paymaster of everything, and everything must conform to its general will. - Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man, Pt. I, 1791.

When we survey the wretched condition of man under the monarchical and hereditary systems of government, dragged from his home by one power, or driven by another, and impoverished by taxes more than by enemies, it becomes evident that those systems are bad, and that a general revolution in the principle and construction of governments is necessary. - Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man, Pt. I, 1791.

War, therefore, from its productiveness, as it easily furnishes the pretence of necessity for taxes and appointments to places and offices, becomes a principal part of the system of old governments; and to establish any mode to abolish war, however advantageous it might be to nations, would be to take from such a government the most lucrative of its branches. The frivolous matters upon which war is made, show the disposition and avidity of governments to uphold the system of war, and betray the motives upon which they act. - Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man, Pt. I, 1791.

Whatever serves to expose the intrigue and lessen the influence of courts, by lessening taxation, will be unwelcome to those who feed upon the spoil. - Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man, Pt.II, 1792.

Public money ought to be touched with the most scrupulous consciousness of honor. It is not the produce of riches only, but of the earnings of labor and poverty. It is drawn even from the bitterness of want and misery. Not a beggar passes, or perishes in the streets, whose mite is not in that mass. - Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man, Pt.II, 1792.

It is a general idea, that when taxes are once laid on, they are never taken off. However true this may have been of late, it was not always so. Either, therefore, the people of former times were more watchful over government than those of the present, or government was administered with less extravagance. - Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man, Pt.II, 1792.

When taxes are proposed, the country is amused by the plausible language of taxing luxeries. One thing is caled a luxery at one time, and something else at another; but the real luxery does not consist in the article, but in the means of procuring it, and this is always kept out of sight. - Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man, Pt.II, 1792.

Be it, however, what it may, it is no other than the conseqquence of the excessive burden of taxes, for at the time when taxes were very low, the poor were able to maintain themselves; and there were no poor rates* (*poor-rates began about the time of henry the VIII when taxes began to increase, and they have increased as the taxes increased ever since). In the present state of things, a labouring man, with a wife and two or three children, does not pay less than between seven and eight pounds a year in taxes. He is not sensible of this because it is disguised to him in the articles which he buys, and he thinks only of their dearness; but as the taxes take from him, at least, a fourth part of his yearly earnings, he is consequently disabled from providing for a family, especially if himself, or any of them, are affllicted with sickness. - Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man, Pt.II, 1792.

Whoever has observed the manner in which trade and taxes twist themselve together,must be sensible of the impossibility of separating them suddenly.

First, Because the articles now on hand are already charged with the duty, and the reduction cannot take place on the present stock.

Secondly, Because, on all those articles on which the duty is charged in the gross, such as per barrel, hogshead, hundred weight, or ton, the abolition of the duty does not admit of being divided down so as fully to relieve the consumer, who purchases by pint, or the pound.... This being the condition of the greater part of the taxes, it will be necessary to look for such others as are free from this embarrassment, and where the relief will be direct and visible, and capable of immediate operation. - Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man, Pt.II, 1792.

If a house of legislation is to be composed of men of one class, for the purpose of protecting a distinct interest, all the other interests, should have the same. The inequality as well as the burden of taxation, arises from admitting it in one case and not all. Had there been a house of farmers, there had been no game laws; or a house of merchants and manufacturers; the taxes had neither been so unequal nor so excessive. It is from the power of taxation being in the hands of those who can throw so great a part of it from their own shoulders, that it has raged without a check. - Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man, Pt.II, 1792.

When it was reported in the English newspapers, some short time since that the Empress of Russia had given to one of her minions a large tract of country and several thousands of peasants as property, it very justly provoked indignation and abhorrence in those who heard it. But if we compare the mode practiced in England, with that which appears to us so abhorrent in Russia, it will be found to amount to very near the same thing....

The difference... between the two modes is, that in England the money is collected by the government, and then given to the pensioner, and Russia he is left to collect it for himself. - Thomas Paine, letter to Lord Onslow Cranely, June 21, 1792.

The enormous expense of government has provoked men to think by making them feel. - Thomas Paine, "Letter Addressed to the Addressers of the Late Proclamation," May, 1792.

That there are two distinct classes of men England, those who pay taxes, and those who recieve and live upon the taxes, is evident at first sight; and when taxation is carried to excess, it cannot fail to disunite those two. - Thomas Paine, "Letter Addressed to the Addressers of the Late Proclamation," May, 1792.

The revenue of the country, levied almost insensibly to the taxpayer, goes on from year to year, increasing beyond either the interests or the prospective wants of the Government. - Franklin Pierce, message to Congress. December 9, 1868.

Republicans believe every day is 4th of July, but Democrats believe every day is April 15. - President Ronald Reagan, Attributed.

Have we the courage and the will to face up to the immorality and discrimination of the progressive tax, and demand a return to traditional proportionate taxation? ... Today in our country the tax collector's share is 37 cents of every dollar earned. Freedom has never been so fragile, so close to slipping from our grasp. - President Ronald Reagan, October 27, 1964.

We need true tax reform that will at least make a start toward restoring for our children the American Dream that wealth is denied to no one, that each individual has the right to fly as high as his strength and ability will take him.... But we cannot have such reform while our tax policy is engineered by people who view the tax as a means of achieving changes in our social structure. - President Ronald Reagan, October 27, 1964.

There are 116 taxes in a suit of clothes each on of us is wearing, 151 on the bread we had for dinner tonight. There are 100 taxes on an egg and I don;t think the chicken put them there; someplace between the hen and the table they crept in. - Ronald Reagan, speech in New York. December 23, 1972.

More than any single thing, high rates of taxation destroy incentive to earn, to save, to invest. And they cripple productivity, lead to deficit financing and inflation, and create unemployment. - Ronald Reagan. September 9, 1980.

If I could paraphrase a well-known statement by Will Rogers that he never met a man he didn’t like — I’m afraid we have some people around here who never met a tax they didn’t like. - Ronald Reagan, Tax Cut Bill address. July 27, 1981.

The “tax and tax, spend and spend” policies of the last few decades lead only to economic disaster. Our Government must return to the tradition of living within its means and must do it now. - Ronald Reagan, speech in Washington D.C. September 24, 1981.

Something very exciting has been happening here in Washington and you are responsible. Your voices have been heard. Million of you, Democrats, Republicans, and Independents, from every profession, trade, and line of work, and from every part of this land; you sent a message that you wanted a new beginning.... All the lobbying, the organized demonstrations and the cries of protest by those whose way of life depends on maintaining government's wasteful ways were no match for your voices which were heard loud and clear in these marble halls of government.... It's been the power of millions of people like you who have determined that we will make America great again. you have made the difference up to now. You will make the difference again. - Ronald Reagan, Tax Cut Bill address. July 27, 1981.

I will not ask you to try to balance the budget on the backs of the American taxpayer.... I promise the American people to bring their tax rates down and keep them down.... Tonight I’m urging the American people: Seize these new opportunities to produce, to save, to invest, and together we’ll make this economy a mighty engine of freedom, hope and prosperity again. - Ronald Reagan, state of the union address, January 26, 1982.

We don't have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven't taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much. - President Ronald Reagan, Address to National Association of Realtors, March 28, 1982.

The income tax has made more Liars out of the American people than Golf has. Even when you make one out on the level, you don’t know when it’s through if you are a Crook or a Martyr. - Will Rogers, Illiterate Digest. 1924.

I hold enforced labour to be less opposed to liberty than taxes. - Jean Jacques Rousseau. The Social Contract. 1762.

No matter how small an amount the people be called upon to provide, if it does not return to them, and if they are called upon to be forever giving, the exhaustion is soon reached, in which case the State is never rich and the people always out-at-elbows. - Jean Jacques Rousseau. The Social Contract. 1762.

Not all governments are of the same nature, some being greedier than others. The difference between them is based upon yet another principle, to wit that the further public taxes are removed from the source, the more burdensome they are. The extent of this burden is not to be reckoned in terms of the amount of the taxes, but with reference to the distance which they have to travel before they return to the hands from which they have come. - Jean Jacques Rousseau. The Social Contract. 1762.

Here is my principle: Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay. That is the only American principle. - Franklin D. Roosevelt, campaign address. October 21, 1936.

A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul. - George Bernard Shaw, Everybody’s Political What’s What? 1944.

The whole, or almost whole public revenue, is in most countries employed in maintaining unproductive hands. Such are the people who compose a numerous and splendid court, a great ecclesiastical establishment, great fleets and armies, who in time of peace produce nothing, and in time of war acquires nothing which can compensate the expense of maintaining them, even while the war lasts. - Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, 1776.

When a nation is already overburdened with taxes, nothing but the necessities of a new war, nothing but either the animosity of national vengeance, or the anxiety for national security, can induce the people to submit, with tolerable patience, to a new tax. - Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, bk.IV, ch.3, 1776.

In the progress of despotism the authority of the executive power gradually absorbs that of every other power in the state, and assumes to itself the management of every branch of revenue which is destined for any public purpose. - Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, bk.V, ch.1, pt.3, 1776.

I. The subjects of every state ought to contribute towards the support of the government, as nearly as possible, in proportion to their abilities; that is, in proportion to the revenue which they respectively enjoy under the protection of the state. The expense of government to the individuals of a great nation is like the expense of management to the joint tenants of a great estate, who are all obliged to contribute in proportion to their repsective interests in the estate....

II. The tax which each individual is bound to pay ought to be certain, and not arbitrary....

III. Every tax ought to be levied at the time, or in the manner in which it is most likely to be convenient for the contributor to pay it....

IV. Every tax ought to be so contrived as both to take out and to keep out of the pockets of the people as little as possible over and above what it brings into the public treasury of the state. - Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, bk.V, ch.2, pt.2, 1776.

A tax, however, upon the profits of stock employed in any particular branch of trade can never fall finaly upon the dealers (who must in all ordinary cases have their reasonable profit, and where the competition is free can seldom have more than that profit), but always upon the consumers, who must be obliged to pay in the price of the goods the tax which the dealer advances; and generally with some overcharge. - Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, bk.V, ch.2, pt.2, art.2, 1776.

If direct taxes upon the wages of labour have not always occasioned a proportionable rise in those wages, it is because they have generally occasioned a considerable fall in the demand for labour. The declension of industry, the decrease of employment for the poor, the diminuation of the annual produce of the land and labour of the country, have genrally been the effect of such taxes.... Absurd and destructive as such taxes are, however, they take place in many countries. - Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, bk.V, ch.2, pt.2, art.3, 1776.

No tax can ever reduce, for any considerable time, the rate of profit in any particular trade which must always keep its level with the other trades in the neighborhood. - Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, bk.V, ch.2, pt.2, art.4, 1776.

After all the proper subjects of taxation have been exhausted, if the exigencies of the state still continue to require new taxes, they must be imposed upon improper ones. The taxes upon the necessaries of life, therefore, may be no impeachment of the wisdom of that republic which, in order to acquire and to maintain its independency, has, in spite of its great frugality, been involved in such expensive wars as have obliged it to contract great debts. - Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, bk.V, ch.2, pt.2, art.4, 1776.

A tax, indeed, may render the goods upon which it is imposed so dear as to diminish the consumption of them. - Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, bk.V, ch.2, pt.2, art.4, 1776.

High taxes, sometimes by diminishing the consumption of the taxed commodities, and sometimes by encouraging smuggling, frequently afford a smaller revenue to government than what might be drawn from more moderate taxes.

When the dimminuation of revenue is the effect of the diminuation of consumption there can be but one remedy, and that is the lowering of the tax.

When the diminuation of the revenue is the effect of the encouragement given to smuggling, it may perhaps be remedied in two ways; either by diminishing the temptation to smuggle, or by increasing the the difficulty of smuggling. The temptation to smuggling can be diminished only by the lowering of the tax, and the difficulty of smuggling can be increased only by establishing that system of administration which is most proper for preventing it. - Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, bk.V, ch.2, pt.2, art.4, 1776.

The Americans, it has been said, indeed, have no gold or silver money; the interior commerce of the country being carried on by a paper currency, and the gold and silver which occasionally come among them being all sent to Great Britain in return for the commodities which they receive from us. But without gold and silver, it is added, there is no possibility of paying taxes. We already get all the gold and silver which they have. How is it possible to draw from them what they have not?

The present scarcity of gold and silver money in America is not the effect of the poverty of that country, or of the inability of the people there to purchase those metals. In a country where the wages of labour are so much higher, and the price of provisions so much lower than in England, the greater part of the people must surely have wherewithal to purchase a greater quantity if it were either necessary or convenient for them to do so. The scarcity of those metals, therefore, must be the effect of choice, and not of necessity.

It is for transacting either domestic or foreign business that gold and silver money is either necessary or convenient. - Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, bk.V, ch.3, 1776.

The schoolboy whips his taxed top; the beardless youth manages his taxed horse with a taxed bridle on a taxed road; and the dying Englishman, pouring his medicine, which has paid seven per cent, into a spoon that has paid fifteen per cent, flings himself back upon his chintz bed which has paid twenty-two per cent, and expires in the arms of an apothecary who has paid a license of a hundred pounds for the privilege of putting him to death. - Sydney Smith, Review of Seybert's, Annals of the United States, 1820.

The Study of Sociology. 1873.

The state, it cannot be too often repeated, does nothing and can give noting which it does not take from somebody. - William Graham Sumner, address, “The Forgotten Man.” 1883.

The Tariff in Our Times. 1906.

When I meet a government which says to me, “your money or your life,” why should I be in haste to give it my money? It may be in a great strait, and not know what to do: I cannot help that. It must help itself; do as I do. - Henry David Thoreau, Essay on Civil Disobedience, 1849.

Be wary of strong drink, it can make you shoot at tax collectors, and miss. - Unknown.

May God in his infinite mercy help the tax-payers of this country... and nerve them to rebuke their despoilers; may He send upon our people that high type of patriotism and courage that will crush all parties, and men, and laws that stand for the enslavement of the people. - James B. Weaver, to House of Representatives. May 10, 1880.

TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: business; economics; government; money; tax; taxreform

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A present to all Freepers who had to write a check to Uncle Sam this year. Enjoy!

1 posted on 04/14/2002 2:17:00 PM PDT by PsyOp

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To: PsyOp; Marine Inspector; infowars

ping

2 posted on 04/14/2002 2:18:19 PM PDT by PsyOp

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To: PsyOp

"The collection of taxes... has been as yet only by duties on consumption. As these fall principally on the rich, it is a general desire to make them contribute the whole money we want, if possible. And we have a hope that they will furnish enough for the expenses of government and the interest of our whole public debt, foreign and domestic."
--Thomas Jefferson to Comte de Moustier, 1790. ME 8:110

3 posted on 04/14/2002 2:22:17 PM PDT by Willie Green

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To: PsyOp

Probably explains why Democrats want big taxes even more than big spending.

4 posted on 04/14/2002 2:26:06 PM PDT by supercat

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To: supercat

You got it!

5 posted on 04/14/2002 2:31:23 PM PDT by PsyOp

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To: Willie Green

Thanks for the quote, Ive added it to my archive.

6 posted on 04/14/2002 2:34:21 PM PDT by PsyOp

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To: *TaxReform

Check the Bump List folders for articles related to and descriptions of the above topic(s) or for other topics of interest.

7 posted on 04/14/2002 2:40:06 PM PDT by Free the USA

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To: PsyOp

Great post

8 posted on 04/14/2002 2:40:32 PM PDT by Free the USA

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To: PsyOp

Newsweak set to report that billandhill earned $35MILLION last year. No doubt they found some lovely tax havens to protect themselves. All the while talking about how WE have to spend more on the poor to be FAIR!!!

9 posted on 04/14/2002 2:42:36 PM PDT by OldFriend

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To: conserve-it; sleavelessinseattle; Righty1; Risky Schemer; Kermit; Burkeman1; Libertina...

Thought you might like this post.

10 posted on 04/14/2002 2:48:53 PM PDT by PsyOp

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To: OldFriend

billandhill earned $35MILLION last year.

And that probably doesn't account for all the under-the-table stuff they raked in.

I wonder, how do you claim money recieved for pardons? What tax schedule form would you use?

11 posted on 04/14/2002 2:52:10 PM PDT by PsyOp

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Comment #12 Removed by Moderator

To: OldFriend

Newsweak set to report that billandhill earned $35MILLION last year. No doubt they found some lovely tax havens to protect themselves.

You obviously haven't been keeping up with the infinite wisdom of FR posters.

An income of $35 million would put them at the top (of the top) one percent of tax payers and as anyone who keeps up with the latest GOP rhetoric knows, the top one percent of tax payers pay over 50% of the taxes collected...therefor the Clinton's would be paying dearly, some say unfairly, on their $35 million income.

We can't have it both ways.

Oh, and don't forget these people at the top one percent (Clinton's, Kennedy's, Kerry's, Feinstien, Boxer, etc. included) are the creators of wealth and jobs for this country and should be worshiped for it. < /sarcasm >

13 posted on 04/14/2002 3:17:25 PM PDT by lewislynn

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To: alien

Agreed.

the San Diego Union tribune ran an article today written by Robert J. Caldwell (staff editor). he included the following stats from 1999:

"The top 1 percent of income earners (adjusted gross incomes abouve $293,413) paid 36.2% of all federal personal income taxes.

"The top 5 percent of income earners (adjusted gross incomes above $120,846) paid 55.5% of all federal personal income taxes.

"The top 10 percent of income earners (adjusted gross incomes above $87,682) paid 66.5% of all federal personal income taxes."

The bottom 50% of wage earners in 1999 (adjusted gross incomes below $26,415) paid 4% of all federal personal income taxes.

Figures for 2001, tax-cut included, will not differ more than a percentage point either way. It is that bottom 50% (and the limosine liberals) to whom all the Democrat rhetoric on taxes is directed.

14 posted on 04/14/2002 3:41:29 PM PDT by PsyOp

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To: PsyOp